Sport and academic performance in Australian Indigenous children

2020 ◽  
pp. 000494412097137
Author(s):  
Dorothea Dumuid ◽  
Rachel Wilson ◽  
Timothy Olds ◽  
John Robert Evans
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Sports Participation ◽  
Achievement Test ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
Assessment Program ◽  
Indigenous Children ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Better Than

Objective Sport may promote academic performance through physiological and psychosocial mechanisms. We aimed to examine the association between sports participation and academic performance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Methods Participants were from four successive waves of Australia’s Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children ( n = 303, baseline age 5–6 y). Cumulative sports participation was regressed against academic performance from two standardised tests. Results Children participating in sport at all four waves performed significantly better than children participating in sport in 0, 2 or 3 waves in Progressive Achievement Test (PAT) Maths (110 vs. 103, 105 and 105, p = 0.007, 0.02 and 0.02, respectively), and better than children participating at two waves in National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) numeracy (438 vs. 409, p = 0.006). There were no significant differences in PAT reading or NAPLAN literacy. Conclusion Sports participation appears to be associated with subsequent better numeracy (2–7 months of learning) in a sample of Australian indigenous children. Fostering sports participation among indigenous children may be an avenue for reducing disadvantage.

Analysis of National Test Scores in Very Remote Australian Schools

2015 ◽  
pp. 125-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Guenther
Keyword(s):  
Test Scores ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
Remote Education ◽  
Assessment Program ◽  
Data Support ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
National Test

Based on the current research of the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation, this chapter presents an analysis of the 2012 Australian National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy data from very remote schools across Australia. The data support perceptions of apparent failure in remote education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The reasons for this failure are often attributed to disadvantage. In this chapter, the author proposes that the perceptions of failure are built on philosophical, sociological, economic, and psychological assumptions that may not be shared by those who are subjected to tests. It is therefore possible to critique remote education, not as a failure, but as a reflection of the values it embodies. That critique allows for different ways of understanding difference framed around the perspectives that come from the context of very remote schools.

Intergenerational and early life influences on the well-being of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children: overview and selected findings fromFootprints in Time, the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Salmon ◽  
F. Skelton ◽  
K. A. Thurber ◽  
L. Bennetts Kneebone ◽  
J. Gosling ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Well Being ◽  
National Study ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Australian Aboriginal ◽  
Indigenous Children ◽  
Torres Strait

AbstractFootprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) is a national study of 1759 Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living across urban, regional and remote areas of Australia. The study is in its 11th wave of annual data collection, having collected extensive data on topics including birth and early life influences, parental health and well-being, identity, cultural engagement, language use, housing, racism, school engagement and academic achievement, and social and emotional well-being. The current paper reviews a selection of major findings fromFootprints in Timerelating to the developmental origins of health and disease for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Opportunities for new researchers to conduct further research utilizing the LSIC data set are also presented.

scholarly journals ‘Learning her culture and growing up strong’: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander fathers, children and the sharing of culture

2020 ◽  
pp. 144078332093418
Author(s):  
Jacob Prehn ◽  
Michael Andre Guerzoni ◽  
Huw Peacock
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Indigenous Children ◽  
Common Activity ◽  
Torres Strait

Indigenous fathers play a central role in the lives of Indigenous children growing up strong. For Australia’s Indigenous people, growing strong includes the possessing heightened levels of health, education and cultural knowledge. This article focuses on Indigenous fathers and how they understand the importance of sharing cultural activities with their children. We argue that the sharing of Indigenous cultural practices, and the subsequent telling of this narrative, are key enablers for Indigenous fathers to assist their families to flourish. We analyse qualitative data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children to explore what components/aspects of Indigenous culture fathers perceive will assist children to strongly mature, how culture is transmitted, and what barriers fathers face in this process. Results show that according to participants, learning about culture, family and identity are components to helping children prosper, with collecting food the most common activity used to achieve this end.

scholarly journals Maternal drinking and smoking. Can it explain the exceptional academic performance of LBOTE children? A preliminary analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Louisa Gibson ◽  
Melanie Porter
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
English Language ◽  
Breastfeeding Duration ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Maternal Alcohol ◽  
Assessment Program ◽  
Grade 3 ◽  
Using Data

Abstract Objective Although children from language backgrounds other than English (LBOTE) may be disadvantaged in English-reliant exams, they outperform children from an English language background (ELB) on many Australian National Assessment Program–Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assessments. Maternal alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy and/or breastfeeding have been associated with poorer cognitive and academic performance. Using data from the Growing Up in Australia Study, this paper aimed to identify demographic, lifestyle, and prenatal and perinatal risk differences related to maternal tobacco and alcohol use between LBOTE and ELB groups, as a first step in trying to understand the academic performance differences. Results Only data from breastfed babies was included in the current analyses. Although LBOTE children were disadvantaged in several demographic areas, their NAPLAN performance was the same or superior to ELB children across all Grade 3 and 5 NAPLAN assessments. The LBOTE group were, however, breastfed for longer, and their mothers smoked fewer cigarettes and drank less alcohol on fewer occasions throughout their pregnancy. The LBOTE mothers also had lower or less risky patterns of alcohol consumption while breastfeeding. The longer breastfeeding duration of LBOTE children combined with lower maternal use of alcohol and cigarettes during pregnancy and/or breastfeeding may partially contribute to their exceptional NAPLAN performance.

scholarly journals NEWS: UQ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student Participation Project

1995 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-54
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Student Participation ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Monitoring Strategies ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
The University

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at The University of Queensland has identified the need to develop detailed monitoring strategies to gauge the participation and academic performance of indigenous students at The University of Queensland. To reach this goal the Unit has launched a project which aims to investigate the participation and post-study destinations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

scholarly journals Upholding heightened expectations of Indigenous children? Parents do, teachers do not

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Huw Peacock ◽  
Jacob Prehn ◽  
Michael A. Guerzoni ◽  
Wendy Aitken ◽  
Clair Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Primary Caregiver ◽  
Further Training ◽  
Secondary Schooling ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
Biological Mothers ◽  
Indigenous Children ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Biological Fathers

Abstract This paper argues that a component of increasing the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youths completing their secondary education is having parents and teachers maintain heightened expectations of these children in achieving this goal. To understand this phenomenon, we investigate the importance of, and discrepancies between, primary caregiver and teacher outlooks regarding Indigenous youths completing year 12. For the purpose of this paper, we adopt the term ‘primary caregiver’ in place of parent. This is because the majority (87.7%) of P1s analysed are the biological mothers with the remainder being close female relatives. P2s analysed are all male, 93.3% are biological fathers; remainder are step-fathers or adoptive fathers. This paper uses quantitative data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children to measure expectations from parents and teachers of Indigenous children. Results suggest that parents maintain exceptionally high expectations of their children, while teacher's expectations significantly decline over the course of Indigenous children's primary and secondary schooling years. We suggest that relationships and communication between parents and teachers, regarding expectations of students, are important to establishing an equilibrium in expectations of children, and that teachers may benefit from further training to address any underlying biases towards Indigenous children.

scholarly journals Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 50-52
Author(s):  
David Singh
Keyword(s):  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Indigenous Australians ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Education Systems ◽  
Indigenous Children ◽  
Australian Education ◽  
Closing The Gap ◽  
Torres Strait

Australian education systems have long been challenged by the gap between Indigenous and nonIndigenous student outcomes. All levels of Australian government, as well as Indigenous leaders and educators, however, continue to meet the challenge through exhortation, strategies and targets. The most prominent of such strategies is ‘Closing the Gap’, which gives practical expression to the Australian Government’s commitment to measurably improving the lives of Indigenous Australians, especially Indigenous children.

Teacher Socialisation and Teacher Attitudes Towards Indigenous Children

1993 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 16-32
Author(s):  
Cheryl Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Indigenous Children ◽  
Australian Census ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Perceptions Of School

In this paper I offer an explanation for teacher-held beliefs that contribute to perceptions of school failure by indigenous children and discuss the ends served by these perceptions. Although the validity of using retention rates as an indicator of actual educational outcomes is questioned (Luke, A. et al, 1993:144), there are few other indicators presently available. The figures on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student participation rates-indicate that few children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent complete secondary school. The following figures, based on data collected in the 1991 Australian Census, show the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school children of a particular sex and age expressed as a proportion of the population of children of the same sex and age, in Queensland.

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